The Special Ornament
by GoldGuardian2418
Summary: Sequel to guestsurprise's "Together For Christmas". Rachel finds a special ornament and tells Ecstacio the story behind it. :)


**This story came to me and I just had to write it. :)  
**

**Ben 10 belongs to Cartoon Network and Man of Action. Mythology belongs to its respective owners. Ecstacio, Lauhin, and Jocu belong to guestsurprise. I only own Rachel, Holly, John, and Sasha.**

* * *

**The Special Ornament**

Rachel chuckled as she watched the aliens who were engaged each pull their lovers under the mistletoe and kiss them, making their lovers smile while the children giggled, singing along with the Christmas carols that were playing on the radio. Snare-Oh walked into the room with mugs of hot chocolate and Water Hazard, Wildvine, and Swampfire came in with more of the sweet drink.

Way Big and his brother were coming up the hallway with more wrapped gifts and placed them under the tree while Jocu was tickling some of the younger children, who laughed happily, not minding that they were getting tickled. A few of the older ones were gathered around Lauhin as he was telling them a story and Sasha was humming as she set out some more cookies for everyone to enjoy.

Seeing all was good, Rachel went to look for a few warm blankets in the closet when her hand collided with something solid. Curious, she moved the blankets aside and saw it was a small box. Her breath caught in her throat as she recognized the box. "I thought this had been lost," she said softly as she grabbed it, coming out of the closet and sitting down in a nearby chair, carefully opening the box.

Inside, laying against a blue felt bottom, was an ornament that was made out of paper and had been laminated to preserve it. It was in the shape of a heart with four stick figures inside the heart and above each person was a name to indicate who was who. One could tell by looking at it that the ornament had no doubt been made by a child, but as she gently touched it, tears filled her eyes and spilled over, falling down her face.

Ecstacio, who was nearby and observing the festivities, felt Rachel's sadness and immediately sought her out, as any Lauhinian could not ignore sadness from someone. He sound found her and went up to her, curious as to why something small was provoking the young woman to tears. "Young one, why are you crying over this small thing?" He asked, his voice not betraying the curiosity he felt.

Sniffling, Rachel gently grasped the red ribbon and gently lifted the ornament out of the box, pressing it close to where her heart was. "It's not the ornament I'm crying over, exactly," she said softly. "But this ornament is a very special one."

She held it up so that he could see. He looked at it, noting that is looked like it had been done by a child, but he could sense the love that had gone into it. The young woman looked at him. "Ecstacio, can I tell you a story?" She asked.

He cocked an eyebrow at her, seeming a bit surprised as no one had asked that before, but he nodded and sat down beside her as she smiled, a few more tears falling.

"It was almost Christmas, twenty years ago...,"

* * *

_Flashback start..._

Four-year-old Rachel was worried as she heard her mother cough harshly. She turned to her three-year-old sister, Sasha. "Mommy's cough is getting really bad, Sasha," she said.

"Is Mommy not getting better?" The little one asked.

The blonde-haired girl looked even more worried. "I don't know," she said.

They had good cause for worry, because their adoptive dad, who they saw as their real father, had told them that their mother might not have a whole lot of time left as she was very sick. The doctors had said that she had perhaps a few more months at most. The treatments they had tried hadn't done any good and they had tried everything. The new medicine was only pushing the illness back to the point where some days would be good and others not so good. They had suggested to just make sure the girls' mother was comfortable and not a whole lot of activity. The sisters had been afraid and still were.

But they had made a wish on a star a few nights ago that their mother would make it through Christmas. Their father had even put the tree up in the master bedroom so that their mother could see it and be part of decorating it.

The girls now peeked in to see their mother was awake and resting in bed, looking a bit paler than usual, but her eyes were still soft and full of love. Sasha then remembered something and tugged on her sister's sleeve. "Mommy hasn't made any ornaments this time," she said.

"You're right," Rachel said. She remembered her mother showing them special ornaments that she had made and said that special ornaments were ones that couldn't be bought because they were made with love and that was the best kind of ornament. The blonde-haired girl suddenly had an idea. "Sasha, where's Mommy's craft box?" She asked.

Leading the way, the brown-haired sister found the box and together, they pulled it out and opened it, finding the construction paper, markers, colored pencils, tape, pre-cut ribbons, kid scissors, and glitter. "What are we going to do?" Sasha asked wonderingly.

Rachel smiled. "We're going to make Mommy a special ornament," she said. "She can put it on the tree."

Sasha liked that idea and the two sisters got to work. The little three-year-old watched as her four-year-old sister drew a heart on white construction paper and carefully cut it out with the kid scissors. Giving her little sister the heart, Rachel then selected a small length of red ribbon and watched as Sasha carefully drew four stick figures and wrote the words _Mommy _and _Daddy_ over two of them and then handed the pencil to Rachel, who carefully wrote her name and Sasha's name over the other two figures. Then, they grabbed colored pencils. "Let's give Mommy a purple dress," the younger sister said.

"Okay," the blonde-haired sister said. "Let's put Daddy is a blue suit."

Giggling, they carefully drew and colored in a purple dress on the stick figure representing their mother and a suit on the one representing their father. "Don't forget hair," Sasha said as she grabbed a gold colored pencil and colored in the hair on the lady stick figure. Rachel chose a black colored pencil and drew hair onto the man stick figure. For themselves, they decided on red dresses and of course their hair matched their current hair colors, which was blonde for Rachel and brown for Sasha.

Smiling at their handiwork, they carefully poked a hole with a sharp pencil near the upper part of the heart where the point was and gently pulled the ribbon through it, tying it as they had been taught. When they were done, they cleaned up and put away the craft box and then went upstairs with their special surprise.

Holly had been waiting for her husband, John, to come home with some medicine that might help with her pain and coughing when she heard a small knock and turned to find her two daughters standing in the doorway. "Mommy, can we come in?" Sasha said.

"Of course, my little sugar plums," Holly said, smiling as her daughters entered and crawled up onto the bed with Rachel helping Sasha before they hugged their mother.

"Mommy, we made this for you," Rachel said, holding up the handmade ornament.

Holly looked at it in wonder as she held it. "It's beautiful," she said. "I think this is the prettiest ornament I've ever seen."

Sasha giggled. "You always say we're in your heart, Mommy, and now we really are," she said.

The older woman smiled at her daughters. "Let's put this on the tree," she said, getting up carefully with the girls following. "But first, let's put Mommy's special shiny thing on it so that the heart will stay nice and flat."

With her daughters watching, Holly carefully cut some special laminating material and put it on the heart, pressing carefully. After a moment, she held it up and then put it on the tree, smiling as the tree seemed to light up more with the special ornament. "There," she said. "A special ornament made with love by my special girls."

Rachel and Sasha hugged their mother, who returned their hugs before looking solemn for a moment. "Can you girls promise Mommy something?" She asked.

"What, Mommy?" Rachel asked.

"Every Christmas, when I'm not here, put this special ornament on the tree where it can be seen," Holly said. "So that I can see it when I'm up in Heaven watching over you two."

The girls felt fear fill them. "Mommy, why would you go up to Heaven?" Sasha asked.

"Well, sweetie, it's because it's the Good Lord's will," Holly said gently. "Sometimes, when He sees how sick we are, He heals us by calling us home where we'll be out of pain and we can watch over the ones we love."

She looked at her daughters. "Remember, no matter where I go, I'll always be in your hearts and you'll be in mine," she said, kissing her daughters' foreheads.

Both girls hugged her. "We promise, Mommy," Rachel said.

"We'll never forget you," Sasha promised.

"I know, my little sugar plums," Holly said, feeling tears sting her eyes as she knew she might not be around for much longer. She gazed at the ornament her daughters had made and smiled, feeling comforted that no matter what, her babies would be okay. She hugged them closer, rocking them soothingly as they held onto her before she began singing a soft Christmas song and they sang along with her.

_Flashback ends..._

* * *

Rachel swallowed the lump in her throat, her tears spilling out a bit faster. "Mom died in March the next year," she said. "Before mine and Sasha's birthdays. Every Christmas, we hung this ornament on the tree, but a few years ago, I thought it was gone as I couldn't find it, but now, here it is."

She gazed at it. "I miss her and my dad," she said softly. "It was hard when we lost Mom and then we lost Dad eight years later. Our uncles had been helping our dad look after us and then they took on the roles of guardians when Dad died."

She took a deep breath and smiled a little, one last tear falling down her cheek before she turned to Ecstacio, who had listened intently. "Thanks for listening, Ecstacio," she said softly, standing up. "I'm going to go put this on the tree."

He watched her as she headed for the living room before sensing someone coming and turned to find Rook, the alien Rachel had given her heart to. The Revonnahgander looked at the Lauhinian and smiled gently. "You're the only other person besides me that Rachel has told that story to," he said gently. "Her mother and father's deaths hit her hard."

"Yes," Ecstacio said. "Death does hit one hard, yet she has persevered through it like my nephews do when they lose someone they loved."

They both fell into a comfortable silence before the white Lauhinian stood up and walked towards the living room with Rook following, both peeking in to see what was going on.

Rachel had shown Sasha what she had found and the brown-haired girl's eyes filled with tears. "Mom's special ornament," she said softly.

The older girl smiled. "What do you say we put it on the tree, sis?" She said.

Nodding, Sasha found the perfect spot for it and the sisters placed it on the tree together. Sensing someone behind them, they turned to find Jocu and Lauhin standing behind them while most everyone else was either engrossed in the Christmas special that was playing or the board games that some of the other were playing.

"Rachel? Sasha? Are you girls alright?" Jocu asked in concern.

"Why are you crying, my daughters?" Lauhin asked, also concerned.

The sisters smiled softly. "Rachel and I made this ornament for our mother twenty years ago," Sasha said. "We thought it had been lost, but now, to see it again, reminded us of her."

"She died a few months after Christmas, when I was four and Sasha was three," Rachel said. "We promised her that every Christmas, we'd put this ornament on the tree where she could see it when she was up in Heaven watching over us."

The sisters fell silent for a moment and Jocu and Lauhin bowed their heads in respect before pulling the girls into comforting hugs. "Your mother sounds like a wonderful person," Jocu said.

Sasha nodded. "I wish she could have met you guys. She would have loved you all," she said.

"And I'm sure we would have loved her as we love you girls," Lauhin said as Rachel cuddled into his dark fur, nodding.

"Dad too," the blonde-haired girl said. "He would have like you all."

They all fell silent again as the two magical being hugged the girls before Sasha nodded and took a deep breath, looking back at the ornament on the tree and smiling before looking at her sister. "Come on, sis," she said. "Mom and Dad wouldn't have wanted us to cry for long."

Rachel nodded in agreement and smiled. "They would want us to be happy while not forgetting them," she said.

"Yes, they would have," Lauhin said with a smile, gently wiping away Rachel's tears.

"Come on," Jocu said, smiling as well and gently wiping away Sasha's tears. "I think I hear some of the aliens gathering and talking about dancing to some Christmas songs."

Giggling, the sisters nodded and as the celebrations continued, the special ornament hung proudly on the tree, making it seem to shine brighter as the magic of Christmas mixed with the warmth and love of the entire family.

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**Merry Christmas, everyone! :) **

**GoldGuardian2418 **


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